Watch the Dying

Accepting, even as Christ Himself suggested, that salvation (immortality) is not only quite probable, but entirely unavoidable, puts us in the unenviable position of Jorge Luis Borges' "(The) Immortal"(s) who are said to exist largely within the sordid labyrinths of pure thought where infinite time and possibility render any given circumstance impossible not to be; where "no one is anyone; one single immortal man is all men... god(s)... hero(s)... philosopher(s)... demon(s)... world; which is a tedious way of saying that I do not exist."
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– Taken from the short story, "The Immortal", chapter IV, by Jorge Luis Borges. LABYRINTHS: Selected Stories and Other Writings, copyright 1962 by New Directions Publishing Corp., pg. 114-5.


Despite its endless appeal in the temporal world, immortality is a position so desperately untenable, even God Himself seems loath to endure it; and so, the story goes, He sent His only son (for what?) to die, or, at least to give the appearance of such. As Borges writes three paragraphs later, "Death (or its allusion) makes men precious and pathetic. They are moving because of their phantom condition; every act they execute may be their last... Everything among mortals has the value of the irretrievable and the perilous."

As John Batchelor himself has often illustrated, the Republican Party is dying. There are of course those who seek to keep it alive, each for their own (often nostalgic) reasons; but word out on the street has it that extraordinary life-saving measures will no longer suffice. There continues to be some justification for keeping the brand alive. Third parties have seldom fared well in American politics. Colin Powell, ‘moderate’ Republican, continues to plead that the only way to expand the Republican tent is to become more like Democrats. Rush Limbaugh, along with the other radio talk firebrands, promotes just the opposite. He is banking on the belief that when the American voters are given a clear alternative, they will vote Republican. He further stipulates that the Democrat brand is seriously flawed, which Democrats have accepted as a declaration of war.

No doubt, at the moment, Democrats appear to be winning. These are difficult times, however. The public is no longer interested in partisan political squabbling. It is widely accepted that the person who can end the squabbling will be king. Policy never enters into this two-dimensional ‘solution’. Obama was elected for his potential to end the squabbling while his policy positions were largely overlooked.

Now policy differences are once again beginning to surface. In order to maintain the ‘no-squabbling’ fiction, there is only one way to go: go with the winner. This is the policy Colin Powell has adopted. Obama too seems to be following a similar track when dealing internationally. He obviously thinks Marxists and dictators are winning as he appears to have decided to play on their team.

Limbaugh, on the other hand, offers an untested (since Reagan) alternative which is making Democrats and Republican moderates nervous. Many have settled into comfortably lucrative government careers; they have no stomach for confrontation. They have no taste for enduring the inevitable flogging in the public square with the (partisan) press presiding.

Whenever a politician speaks and someone responds, and then the first one speaks again in response to the response, you can bet a strategy is underway. Colin Powell, reacting to Limbaugh’s criticism signals that Democrats are making their final assault on the Republican Party. The plan is to topple it from within; to hollow it out until the walls collapse. The name will be retained to give the illusion of a multi-party system, but the fangs will have been extracted and replaced with rubber stamps. It’s meant to perpetuate the fiction of two parties working together in sublime harmony for the good of the nation, world, solar system, universe…

Obama has been chosen almost by divine decree to accomplish this and more. A king’s motives are never questioned. As such, whether we realize it or not, we have freely chosen to scrap democracy in favor of clearly antiquated feudal governance. Limbaugh and others who are screaming bloody murder, have been given the role of court jester. The king will decide whether they’ll live or die.

But, as we have seen, nothing ever dies. Limbaugh will continue in his various avatars; the Dems will stumble on the very notion they are banking on: being too big to fail; and all will continue as before. It’d be the illusion of death that would give us the surge. The caution for Democrats is to closely watch the dying. It is they who are the most dangerous – for the have nothing to lose.